1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more precisely, to a printing apparatus for printers, digital copiers and facsimile machines.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional printing apparatus for printers and the like, the state or status of the printing apparatus has been indicated by simple messages and the like displayed by a plurality of light emitting diodes and liquid crystal display units. Nevertheless, in general, the state of the printing apparatus has been difficult to ascertain. For example, it has been difficult to know whether the printer is operating normally and simply taking a fair amount of processing time, or whether some trouble has occurred and the printer has stopped.
In the case of an error occurring, an LED or a message to that effect is displayed, so it is possible to understand what is going on with the printing apparatus. However, in a case in which the printing apparatus is operating normally but is taking time, it is not possible to tell the status of the printing apparatus merely from looking at the printing apparatus or its indicators.
In particular, where the LED state has changed but no message is displayed, it is not always possible to ascertain what that LED is indicating, thus increasing the uncertainty as to what is happening.
Similarly, when the supply tray or the exit tray has been automatically selected, it has been difficult to tell where sheets are being supplied from and where they are being exited to.
In order to redress these disadvantages and to improve the status display, there is, for example, the display apparatus disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 5-155115, which displays a ready status when no task is being executed in the printer.
Similarly, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 7-210345 discloses a method that makes it possible to display, confirm and change the status of individual printers connected in a network and the queues and print jobs assigned to these printers on a screen using a graphical user interface (GUI).
Further, a display apparatus that enables users to search instantly for and to display status information on a desired print job is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-28196.
However, the above-described conventional solutions do not adequately address the drawbacks of the conventional art. Specifically, the status of print jobs is displayed merely in such general terms as “waiting” or “printing”, and accordingly, in a case in which, for example, “printing” is displayed and such display does not change for a long time, it is impossible to know whether the printing apparatus is merely taking a long time or some trouble has occurred and the printing apparatus is stopped, thus heightening the uncertainty for the user.
Additionally, in the conventional art it has been necessary to carry out a number of operations in order to obtain a status display, which is inconvenient.